Salesforce Bootcamp Volunteer Experience

 What is Salesforce Bootcamp?

The Monroe College Salesforce bootcamp was designed to introduce Salesforce as a platform to individuals who are underrepresented in technology. Participants learned Salesforce basics, discussed careers opportunities and got a complete overview of the Salesforce ecosystem as it exists today. In collaboration with Monroe College, the NYC Women in Tech user group and Salesforce.com, the goal is to really inspire and prepare the next generation of Trailblazers to pursue careers in technology. The group that I was honored to work with included current students, recent graduates, and veterans.

 There is a mentorship component to this program where all individuals are paired up with a Salesforce professional whose career is closely aligned with the path participants would like to pursue. The mentor’s role is to share industry knowledge and expertise, provide guidance, and help their mentees discover meaningful potential career opportunities. 

During the Training 

We utilized Trailhead as the base of the course and walked the students through the modules. The immediate feedback from students was overwhelming, they were excited to learn more about the platform and became Trailblazers right before our eyes. One of the students even mentioned that he wished he would’ve had this Trailhead project assigned as to him as the Senior Project. He could not believe how quickly he was able to build a simple app. The students were also very happy to hear about the flexibility of working with a platform that is cloud based. This touched the hearts of many transfer students as they realized that the opportunity to work from their home country is very realistic. 

 My Experience 

The bootcamp participants were there to learn, but I also learned a lot too. This experience really helped me reflect on what makes pursuing a career implementing Salesforce so great. The platform has readily accessible resources needed to take your career wherever you want, the sky's really the limit. Due to the awesome community and amazing resources, there is much less of a cutthroat, dog eat dog attitude that plagues so many industries. We are all here to help one another which is a great asset when first getting started. 

 There are employers that will hire you based on potential and willingness to learn. One advantage of working with the Salesforce platform is that it makes it simple to showcase your skills and demonstrate your knowledge of the platform. One of the many ways this can be accomplished is by displaying Trailhead badges you have earned in your Community Profile or talk about projects you have completed. Additionally you could even create a free Developer Edition org and just build out something awesome to share during the interview. We shared this information with the participants so they could hit the ground running once they are ready to begin interviewing.

 I am happy that I was able to provide some insight and shed some light on a platform that has helped my career tremendously and has allowed me to grow my skills and meet some great people along the way. 

I want to hear about your volunteer experiences and ways that you have given back to the community. Please feel free to share with me on the Salesforce Success Community, on our Facebook page, or directly at me on Twitter @msespinal90.